She Walks in Beauty - Poems | Academy of American Poets Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. For over three generations, the Academy has connected millions of people to great poetry through programs such as National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world; Poets.org, the Academy’s popular website; American Poets, a biannual literary journal; and an annual series of poetry readings and special events. Since its founding, the Academy has awarded more money to poets than any other organization. browse poems & poets sign up to receive a new poem-a-day in your inbox sign up poem About this poet George Gordon Byron was born on January 22, 1788, in Aberdeen, Scotland, and inherited his family's English title at the age of ten, becoming Baron Byron of Rochdale. Abandoned by his father at an early age and resentful of his mother, who he blamed for his being born with a deformed foot, Byron isolated himself during his youth and was deeply unhappy. Though he was the heir to an idyllic estate, the property was run down and his family had no assets with which to care for it.

As a teenager, Byron discovered that he was attracted to men as well as women, which made him all the more remote and secretive. He studied at Aberdeen Grammar School and then Trinity College in Cambridge. During this time Byron collected and published his first volumes of poetry. The first, published anonymously and titled Fugitive Pieces, was printed in 1806 and contained a miscellany of poems, some of which were written when Byron was only fourteen. As a whole, the collection was considered obscene, in part because it ridiculed specific teachers by name, and in part because it contained frank, erotic verses. At the request of a friend, Byron recalled and burned all but four copies of the book, then immediately began compiling a revised version—though it was not published during his lifetime. The next year, however, Byron published his second collection, Hours of Idleness, which contained many of his early poems, as well as significant additions, including poems addressed to John Edelston, a younger boy whom Byron had befriended and deeply loved. By Byron's twentieth birthday, he faced overwhelming debt.

Though his second collection received an initially favorable response, a disturbingly negative review was printed in January of 1808, followed by even more scathing criticism a few months later. His response was a satire, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, which received mixed attention. Publicly humiliated and with nowhere else to turn, Byron set out on a tour of the Mediterranean, traveling with a friend to Portugal, Spain, Albania, Turkey, and finally Athens. Enjoying his new-found sexual freedom, Byron decided to stay in Greece after his friend returned to England, studying the language and working on a poem loosely based on his adventures. Inspired by the culture and climate around him, he later wrote to his sister, "If I am a poet ... the air of Greece has made me one." Byron returned to England in the summer of 1811 having completed the opening cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, a poem which tells the story of a world-weary young man looking for meaning in the world. When the first two cantos were published in March of 1812, the expensive first printing sold out in three days.

Byron reportedly said, "I awoke one morning and found myself famous." His fame, however, was among the aristocratic intellectual class, at a time when only cultivated people read and discussed literature. The significant rise in a middle-class reading public, and with it the dominance of the novel, was still a few years away. At 24, Byron was invited to the homes of the most prestigious families and received hundreds of fan letters, many of them asking for the remaining cantos of his great poem—which eventually appeared in 1818. An outspoken politician in the House of Lords, Byron used his popularity for public good, speaking in favor of workers' rights and social reform. He also continued to publish romantic tales in verse. His personal life, however, remained rocky. He was married and divorced, his wife Anne Isabella Milbanke having accused him of everything from incest to sodomy. A number of love affairs also followed, including one with Claire Clairmont, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley <’s sister-in-law. By 1816, Byron was afraid for his life, warned that a crowd might lynch him if he were seen in public.

Forced to flee England, Byron settled in Italy and began writing his masterpiece, Don Juan, an epic-satire novel-in-verse loosely based on a legendary hero. He also spent much of his time engaged in the Greek fight for independence and planned to join a battle against a Turkish-held fortress when he fell ill, becoming increasingly sick with persistent colds and fevers. When he died on April 19, 1824, at the age of 36, Don Juan was yet to be finished, though 17 cantos had been written. A memoir, which also hadn't been published, was burned by Byron's friends who were either afraid of being implicated in scandal or protective of his reputation. Today, Byron's Don Juan is considered one of the greatest long poems in English written since John Milton’ s Paradise Lost. The Byronic hero, characterized by passion, talent, and rebellion, pervades Byron's work and greatly influenced the work of later Romantic poets .

Lord Byron’s Poems “She Walks in Beauty, Like the Night” Summary and Analysis | GradeSaver Buy Study Guide The poet describes a woman who “walks in beauty, like the night/Of cloudless climes and starry skies” (lines 1-2). Immediately the light of stars and the shadow of night are brought forth as contrasts, foreshadowing the further contrasts the poet notices regarding this beautiful woman. Seeing her eyes, he declares that in her face “all that’s best of dark and bright” are joined. Her beauty is contrasted to the “gaudy” daylight. In the second stanza, the poet reflects on the balance in the woman’s beauty: “One shade the more, one ray the less” (line 7) would hinder the “nameless grace” which surrounds her. He then turns to her inner life, seeing her external beauty as an expression of thoughts that dwell in a place (perhaps her mind, or her beautiful head and face) both “pure” and “dear” (line 18). The final stanza returns to her face, but again sees the silent expression of peace and calm in her cheek, brow, and smiles.

Her pleasant facial expressions eloquently but innocently express her inner goodness and peacefulness. Analysis “She Walks in Beauty” is written in iambic tetrameter, “a meter commonly found in hymns and associated with ‘sincerity’ and ‘simplicity’” (Moran 2). Byron’s chosen meter conveys to the reader both his purity of intent (there is but one subject for this poem, the lady’s virtuous beauty) and a poetic parallel to his subject (the lady’s beauty arises from her purity or simplicity of nature). It is an astonishingly chaste poem given its author’s reputation for licentiousness, lust, and debauchery. Byron wrote this poem about Mrs. Wilmot, his cousin Robert Wilmot’s wife. It echoes Wordsworth’s earlier “The Solitary Reaper” (1807) in its conceit: the speaker’s awe upon seeing a woman walking in her own aura of beauty. While ostensibly about a specific woman, the poem extends to encompass the unobtainable and ideal. The lady is not beautiful in herself, but she walks in an aura of Beauty (Flesch 1).

In contrast to popular conceptions, her beauty is not easily described as brilliant or radiant, but it is also dark “like the night” (line 1) However, “all that’s best of dark and bright” (line 3) meet in her face and eyes, suggesting that while she walks in a dark beauty, she is herself a brighter, more radiant beauty. To further convolute the image, the woman is described as having “raven tress[es]” (black hair) (line 9), connecting her to the darkness, while the “nameless grace” (line 8) “lightens” her face—possibly a play on the word, meaning the grace alights on her face, but also including the brighter aspect of lightening her countenance. Indeed, the beauty of Wilmot is found largely in its balance of opposites: the darkness she walks in (and her dark hair) counterpoise her fair skin and the bright pureness of her soul. In this lady, the “tender light” is “mellowed,” in contrast to the “gaudy day” which has only the glaring sun and no shade to soften its radiance.

Thus the lady’s simple, inner perfection produces a beauty superior to nature itself. This grace is “nameless” in that it is ineffable. It is a common idea to say that there is no way for human word or verse to encompass it, so it must remain nameless even as the speaker perceives it clearly. Prose cannot come close to a description of this abstract beauty, so the speaker must attempt it in verse. These issues raise a concern that the woman seems so pure because she is so simple; she wears her thoughts directly on her face, and she shows no evidence of discrimination of better from worse. Her mind is “at peace with all below” (line 17), and she loves innocently. If she is beautiful like the night, perhaps her mind truly is like a sky without any clouds of trouble or confusion. In contrast, she has been able to spend her days in “goodness,” the tints in her face glowing like stars in the sky, small punctuations in a vast emptiness above.

Some critics maintain, however, that the glimpse of Wilmot which inspired this poem was afforded Byron at a funeral; thus the images of darkness which surround the lady can be drawn from the mourning clothes she and those around her wear. This beauty is “like the night” because this time of spiritual darkness—mourning the passing of a loved one—does not detract from her beauty, but instead accentuates it. In any case, in this woman dark and light are reconciled. This reconciliation is made possible by the main sources of the lady’s beauty: her mind “at peace with all below” and her “heart whose love is innocent” (line 18). By possessing a genial mind and innocent heart, the lady can bring the beauty of both darkness and light out and together without contradiction; her purity softens the edges of the contrasts. Byron eschews erotic or physical desire in this poem, preferring instead to express the lady’s beauty without professing his own emotions. He restricts his physical descriptions of her to her eyes, brow, hair, and smiles.

Her loveliness has to do with her innocence and her “days in goodness spent” (line 16), whether it results from her virtue or simply from the poet’s imagination of that virtue. After all, if we bracket the likely autobiographical element of the poem, we do not know whether the speaker has caught anything more than a few moments’ glimpse of a beautiful woman walking by. Amy Abrams, ï¿½02 Amy Abrams, ï¿½02 West Chester University An Explication of "She Walks in Beauty" Many Romantic poets embrace the concept of self -expression through the use of imagination to convey their personal visions of love and life. The power of emotions is evident in Lord Byronï¿½s poems. It can be possible that light can be emitted through the darkness of night. In his poem, "She Walks In Beauty", Lord Byron epitomizes the balance between two opposing forces. The two forces involved are the darkness and the light at work in a womanï¿½s beauty both internal and external. Throughout the poem, Byron uses imagery through the visual senses that allows us to observe the symmetry between a womanï¿½s beauty and the mixing of the darkness and light.

"She Walks in Beauty" can be viewed as a love poem about a beautiful woman. It seems as though the poem is addressed to a lover. In fact, the poem was written about Byronï¿½s cousin, Anne Wilmot, who was dressed in a black mourning gown brightened with spangles. (Norton 556) This fact lends support to understanding the origin of the poem. Byron portrays the mixing of the darkness and light by describing her physical beauty, as well as, her interior strengths. . The use of his metaphorical description of this particular woman allows us to imagine that this womanï¿½s beauty is strong enough to brighten up the sky at nighttime. Byronï¿½s diction in this poem is quite metaphorical. "She walks in beauty, like the night / Of cloudless climes and starry skies" (lines 1-2 Norton 556). His use of imagery has allowed us to visualize an aura that surrounds this woman. The imagery he uses also brings together two opposing forces, darkness and light which works quite well together as one united force.

We can visualize a dark sky filled bright stars, a perfect picture for an ideal evening, which can be compared to his picture of a perfect woman. This woman, as well as the night, contains opposite features within her. "And all thatï¿½s best of dark and bright / Meet in her aspect and her eyes" (lines 3-4 Norton 556). The joining of these opposite forces can be associated with internal aspects of this woman. Although this poem begins with a description of a woman walking, there are not any images of her body. Byron continuously refers to her hair and face. "One shade the more, one ray the less, / Had half impairï¿½d the nameless grace / which waves in every raven tress, / Or softly lightens oï¿½er her face;" (lines 7-10 Norton). Again, the combination of opposite forces, "shade" and "ray", used to create balance in this woman. If the woman were any different, she would be less perfect. His use of imagery allows the picturing of an angelic looking woman with dark hair and a light face. The woman, similar to the night creates a "tender light".

This type of light cannot be presented during the day, and is so powerful that not even heaven can bestow this light on any day. Byron also has demonstrated the use of alliteration by focusing on her mind. "Where thoughts serenely sweet express / How pure, how dear their dwelling place"(lines 11-12 Norton 556). This description creates an insight of a womanï¿½s mind, not her body. The repetition of the ï¿½sï¿½ sound is soothing because he is describing her thoughts. Again, Byron is more focused on this womanï¿½s internal features. Byron has successfully convinced his readers that this woman is perfect. Even though the descriptions of this woman may have contradictory attributes, the overall portrayal of this woman implies that these attributes have created a perfect balance within her. The use of the opposites darkness and light has helped to create this balance. The language, rhythm, and the use of human characteristics have proved that external and internal beauty can be viewed on the same scale, as well as darkness and light.

WORKS CITED She Walks in Beauty - Byron George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) She Walks in Beauty She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellowed to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies. 2 One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o'er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet express, How pure, how dear their dwelling-place. 3 And on that cheek, and o'er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent! Lord Byron was the 6th Baron Byron. The above poem was written in response to seeing his cousin, Lady Wilmot Horton, in a mourning dress at a party of Lady Sitwell's on June 11, 1814. The poem was written by the next morning.

It was published in Hebrew Melodies in 1815. The poem can be found, for example, in: Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron. Byron's Poetry: Authoritative Texts, Letters and Journals, criticism, images of Byron. Frank D. McConnell, ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1978. Harmon, William, ed. The Classic Hundred Poems (Second Edition). New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. She walks in Beauty She walks in Beauty She walks in beauty--like the nightï¿½ï¿½ Of cloudless climes and starry skies, And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes; Thus mellowed to the tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies. She walks in beauty--like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies, II.

One ray the more, one shade the less Had half impaired the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress Or softly lightens o'er her face-- Where thoughts serenely sweet express How pure, how dear their dwelling place.ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ She walks in beauty--like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies, III.

And on that cheek and o'er that browï¿½ï¿½ So soft, so calm yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow But tell of days in goodness spent A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent.ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ She walks in beauty--like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies, She Walks in Beauty." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 12 Nov 2007, 18:02 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 12 Nov 2007 ï¿½She walks in Beautyï¿½ is a poem by George Gordon, Lord Byron, written in 1814 and published in 1815 in ï¿½Hebrew Melodiesï¿½. It is said that the poem was written upon Mrs. Wilmot, Byronï¿½s cousin.

Several months before the author met and married his first wife, Anna Milbanke, Lord Byron attended a party at Lady Sitwellï¿½s, and Byron met his cousin, the beautiful Mrs. Wilmot, and her beauty inspired the author. The author was inspired by the sight of his cousin and she became the essence of his poem about her.ï¿½ In that sense, the topic of the poem is the beauty. We can trust that information because James Wedderburn Webster, a close friend of the author, wrote: ï¿½I did take him to Lady Sitwellï¿½s Party in Seymour road. He there for the first time saw his cousin, the beautiful Mrs. Wilmot. When we return to his rooms in the Albany, he said little, but desired Fletcher to give him a tumbler of brandy, which he drank at once to Mrs. Wilmotï¿½s health, the retired to rest, and was, I heard afterwards, in a sad state all night. The next day he wrote those charming lines upon here, She walksï¿½ï¿½ On the poem ï¿½She Walks in Beautyï¿½: Hebrew Melodies.

ï¿½(16 Nov 2007) Starting the analysis of the poem, I have to talk about the kind of poem we have in front of our eyes. First of all, I want to emphasize that I have found two versions of the poem. In one version the poem is made of three eight-line stanzas, because the first two sentence are repeated at the end of each stanza (what we call refrain). In the other version, the poem is made of three six-line stanzas because there is no repetition at the end of each stanza. I have analysed the second version, which is more common, because I have found it several times on Internet. ï¿½She Walks in Beautyï¿½ is a poem made of three stanzas. Following the second version of the poem, it is an eighteen-line poem of three six-line stanzas, and the rhyme is ABABAB, CDCDCD, EFEFEF. The rhyming words of the first stanza are night/light/bright and skies/eyes/denies.

As we can see, the rhyme pattern is consonant rhyme among the odd lines (night/bright/light) and among the even lines (skies/eyes/denies). The rhyming pattern is repeated in the following stanzas, with consonant rhyme among odd lines (second stanza: less/tress/express; third stanza: brow/glow/below), and among the even lines (second stanza: grace/face/place; third stanza: eloquent/spent/innocent). Moreover, the meter is iambic tetrameter, a meter comprising four feet per line, in which the predominant kind of foot is the iamb of unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. ï¿½Furthermore, the pause on the poem is marked by punctuation marks. On the first stanza, the pause is made after two lines. The first couple of lines end with a semicolon, which shows that the two lines are a couple. The following two lines are other couple and end with a pause indicated by colon. The last two lines of the first stanza are another couple which ends with a point, which indicates another pause. In the second stanza the pause is different.

The first line ends with a comma, which indicates a pause; the following second and third lines work together because they end with another comma, and a pause, too. The fourth line ends with a semicolon, which indicates that it is a pause at the end of that line; and the fifth and sixth lines are a couple which ends with a point. Finally, in the third stanza we can see that each line ends with a comma, which indicates that they are lines with a final pause and they have to be read separately. In the version where there is a refrain at the end of each stanza, that refrain is made of two lines (the first two lines of the poem), with a final pause. The repetition of these lines (the refrain) is used to underline the topic of the poem. Other aspects I want to talk about are the rhetorical devices and figures of speech. I think they are interesting in the sense we need to understand them to understand the correct meaning of the poem. ï¿½She walks in Beautyï¿½ is a simple and easy poem, where we cannot find a large quantity of rhetorical devices.

I am going to emphasize the use of a simile in the first two lines, where Byron compares the beauty with a cloudless and starry night: ï¿½She walks in beauty, like the night/ Of cloudless climes and starry skiesï¿½ (lines 1-2). Moreover the author uses an oxymoron in the second line of the third stanza, where there is an opposite characteristic to the previous ones: ï¿½So soft, so calm, yet eloquentï¿½ (line14). Soft and calm are adjectives contraries to eloquent, but it is used by the author to express that beauty is eloquent because it talks by itself, but at the same time it is calm and soft, something delicate. Finally, I have underlined the use of a pathetic fallacy, where the author uses a word that refers to human actions on something non-human. It can be seen in the third and fourth lines of the third stanza, where Byron uses the verbs win and tell to refer to the smiles: ï¿½The smiles that win, the tints that glow/ But tell of days in goodness spentï¿½ (lines 15-16).

Talking about the symbolism, I want to stress the opposition of dark/light-bright, which is repeated in the poem and which express what is beauty in authorï¿½s mind, as we will see in that paper. Furthermore, the language is simple. The poem is easy to understand because its language is simple and it expresses what the author want to express without using complicate sentences or expressions, to be understand without difficulty; as the beauty is simple and it is understand without difficulty, because we can see it at first glance.ï¿½ The poem is written in a simple way to be understood at first glance, too. The main words of the poem, which have the main meaning, can be arranged into two groups. On one hand, the words that refer to the woman: aspect, eyes, raven tress, face, thoughts, cheek, brow, smile, tint, mind, heart and innocent. On the other hand, the words that refer to the contrast dark/light: night, cloudless, clime, starry skies, dark, bright, tender light, shade, ray, lightens and glow.

In that sense, we can see that the vocabulary practically refers to the same things, either to beauty or to the contrast between dark and light. So this contrast is another way to talk about beauty because Byron compares it with the dark and light. Once I have analysed the external and internal structure of the poem, I am going to analyse the lines of that beautiful poem to understand correctly what Lord Byron wanted to express. ï¿½She walks in Beautyï¿½ starts with the title: ï¿½She walks in beauty, like the night/Of cloudless climes and starry skies;ï¿½ (lines 1-2). These are the first two lines, which are a couple and express that the woman walks in beauty like a cloudless and starring night, that is, the woman is beautiful as a starring night is, too. This is the first time that the theme of darkness appears (in night), contrary to the light which is expressed by the stars of the sky. That opposition is repeated along the three stanzas of the poem, because the author is talking about the beauty and that opposition is used to express it, to compare the opposition with beauty.

In that sense, I have understood that Byron feels that beauty is something which is dark and light, something apparent and at the same time, something occult. Furthermore, the third and fourth lines are a couple, too: ï¿½And all that's best of dark and bright/ Meet in her aspect and her eyes:ï¿½ (lines 3-4). Here, the author tells us how her face and her eyes are, and the opposition appears again, in the sense that the womanï¿½s eyes and face reflect the dark and the light. This is the manner Byron understands beauty: beauty is bright, but also is dark; it is something that is mysterious, but also light, clear; it is something that is apparent, and we can see it with light, but it is something occult, which is the dark part because we need more efforts to see that part. And the last lines of the first stanza are another way to express that contrast, that opposition: ï¿½Thus mellow'd to that tender light/ Which heaven to gaudy day denies.ï¿½ (lines 5-6).

The second stanza starts saying that her beauty is perfect because it is in the right proportion: ï¿½One shade the more, one ray the less,/ Had half impair'd the nameless graceï¿½ (lines 7-8). There is nothing that must be eliminated and nothing that must be added: she is perfect. Moreover, we can see the contrast between dark and light again, and it is explained because her beauty is perfect due to the proportion between dark and light, and in that sense, Byron explained that she is the nameless grace: her beauty is so perfect that it cannot have name. Then, in lines 11, 12, 13 and 14 (third, fourth, fifth and sixth lines of the second stanza), Byron writes some characteristic of the womanï¿½s beauty: ï¿½Which waves in every raven tress,/ Or softly lightens o'er her face;/ Where thoughts serenely sweet express/ How pure, how dear their dwelling place.ï¿½. Byron states that her raven tress and her face are softly illuminated (light).

Furthermore, Byron express that her thoughts are serene, pure and sweet, and it is normal if we think that her thoughts are in relation with her beauty (it is pure, sweet, calm, perfect). In that point Byron is arguing that the external beauty is related to the internal one. She is beautiful into herself as much as she is outwardly. Garry Gamber. ï¿½She walks in Beautyï¿½. A discussion of the Poem by Lord Byron. Enzine Articles. October, 09, 2005, from (16 Nov 2007) In addition to that point, the opposition of dark/light has a new meaning there. Dark could be the internal beauty of the woman, the dark part which is more difficult to see (psychical beauty); and light would be the external beauty of the woman, the physical beauty. The last stanza starts with three lines of physical description. Byron writes about her cheek, her brow and her smile: ï¿½And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,/ So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,/ The smiles that win, the tints that glow,ï¿½ (lines 13-14-15).

The author suggests that her cheek and her brow are soft, calm but eloquent, because her beauty has expression by itself. Her smile reflects happiness, and it is brilliant, as the tints, and these things tell us about happy days, goodness days: ï¿½But tell of days in goodness spent,ï¿½ (line 16). The following three lines are about the womanï¿½s nature: ï¿½A mind at peace with all below,/ A heart whose love is innocentï¿½ (lines 17-18). Byron claims her mind is at peace with all, and her heart is plenty of innocent love. In that sense, Byron is explaining that she is beautiful into herself, inner. This is again the theme that the womanï¿½s physical beauty is a reflection of her inner beauty (as Byron has explained before in the second stanza, lines 11,12,13 and 14). Garry Gamber. ï¿½She walks in Beautyï¿½. A discussion of the Poem by Lord Byron. Enzine Articles.

October, 09, 2005, from (16 Nov 2007) The summary of the analysis of the poem is that beauty is a mixture of dark and light. It has a part of darkness, we want to see it but we need light. And we can see beauty with light but it cannot be learned. Beauty would be, as Byron claims, a star in the dark sky, and as an image, it would be a woman glowing in a dark night. Moreover, beauty is based in two kinds of beauty: the external and the internal one, and the total amount of these two results on the perfect beauty. To sum up, the poem is well organised, because it has a clear structure and it follows a clear pattern, and these things help on the correct understanding of it. The main topic is latent into the three stanzas, through the expression of the ideas and the meaning of the symbols and themes that appear in it. The fact that we cannot find a big amount of rhetorical devices is explained because the poem is simple in structure and language, it has a logical order and it is not necessary to confuse it.

In my opinion, it is an easy poem in the sense we can understand it easily, and although there are surely a lot of things to say about it, the analysis I have made captures the main ideas of Byron. I think that the way Byron refers to beauty and the manner the author describes the beauty of his cousin, in comparison with a starry night, is sublime. Moreover, I think that this poem causes admiration to the readers because they admire the way Byron has expressed beauty. Finally, and to end with the analysis of the poem, I have to talk about the context of the poem and the poet, and why the poem is important in that sense. George Gordon or Lord Byron is considered one of the most important and interesting poets of the Romantic Movement in England , and ï¿½She Walks in Beautyï¿½ is frequently considered one of his most powerful works. During the eighteen century, an artistic, literary and intellectual movement was originated in Western Europe . It was partly a revolt against aristocratic, social, and political norms of the Enlightenment period and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature in art and literature. It was called Romanticism. Lord Byron has been considered one of the most important poets in that period.

George Gordon Byron was born in 1788 in London . His father had married his mother for her money, and when he was a year old, he and his mother fled to Scotland , and Byron spent his childhood there. Upon the death of his great uncle in 1798, Byron became the sixth Baron Byron of Rochdale Cambridge University until 1808, when he received a masterï¿½s degree. Byronï¿½s first publication was a collection of poems, ï¿½Fugitive Piecesï¿½ (1807). He travelled to Greece and Turkey and he recorded his experiences in ï¿½Childe Haroldï¿½s Pilgrimageï¿½ (1812-1818), one of the most important work of the poet. The publication of the first two cantos of that work in 1812 had great acclaim; and Byron was hailed in literary circles. Then he started his career: a lot of poems and major works are attached to the poet, where we can emphasize ï¿½Don Juanï¿½, his masterpiece (1819-1824).

Byron was married with his first wife, Anna Milbanke in 1815, but she left him in 1816. After that he travelled to Europe , where the poet met Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife, with whom he became close friends. The author continued working on his poems and works and he died in 1824 because of a fever. ï¿½George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 19 Nov 2007, 14:54 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 19 Nov 2007 ï¿½She walks in Beautyï¿½ was the first of several poems to be set to Jewish tunes from the synagogue by Isaac Nathan, an English-Australian composer, musicologist, journalist and self-publicist, which were published as Hebrew Melodies in 1815. ï¿½She walks in Beautyï¿½ was written in 1814, several months before Byron married with Anna Milbanke. Byron attended a party at Lady Sitwell and there he met his cousin, Mrs. Wilmot. Her beauty inspired the author, who wrote the poem upon her.

And we know it is true because his cousin was wearing black clothes and raven tresses and a friend of the author wrote it, as we have seen at the beginning of the paper. It is not a love poem, because it reflects beauty and purity, the inner and outer beauty of his cousin. But some critics have said that Byron fell in love with his cousin but there is nothing in the poem that refers to love. "She Walks in Beauty." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 19 Oct 2007, 18:02 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 14 Nov 2007 ï¿½She walks in Beautyï¿½ is one of his minor works, where we can see a lot of poems, without any relation in its topics. Byron was an author who wrote about different things, the natural things and his experiences. We cannot classify his poems using the topics, because there are a lot of topics, normally his experiences. The best classification we can do is into major works and minor works.

Into major works we have his best-known works and bigger in importance, as ï¿½Childe Haroldï¿½s Pilgrimageï¿½ (1812-1818), ï¿½Darknessï¿½ (1816) and ï¿½Don Juanï¿½ (1819-1824). Moreover, if we talk about ï¿½She walks in Beautyï¿½ as a poem which appears in ï¿½Hebrew Melodiesï¿½, it can be classified as a major work, too. But if we take the poem in an isolated way, it belongs to his minor works, as ï¿½The first Kiss of Loveï¿½ (1806), ï¿½The Cornelianï¿½ (1807) and ï¿½Epitaph of a dogï¿½ (1809). "George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 10 Nov 2007, 14:54 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

14 Nov 2007 The historical and social context when the poem was written is plenty of battles. There was a war, the war of 1812, which had its origins in 1807 and which ended in 1815. But it is not important in our analysis of the poem because that poem is not related to the historical context. In conclusion, the poem belongs to the minor works of the author, and its importance appears when it is published as a poem of the ï¿½Hebrew Melodiesï¿½ in 1815. ï¿½She walks in Beautyï¿½ is a reflection of the author about the beauty, and it is made after he met his cousin in a party. And the most remarkable part of that poem is its validity in present times. Generally, poetry does not become old. Poetry is contemporary, and ï¿½She walks in Beautyï¿½ reflects this. This poem could be a present poem, because its sense and its meaning could be applied to todayï¿½s beauty. Beauty remains equal, is always the same, in the past and in present times, and moreover, it will remind in the future.

Although in each period of time the beautyï¿½s canons change, the sense of beauty, its meaning, is the same. And if we did not know the date of the poem, probably we would consider the poem as a present poem. In my opinion, the way Byron express beauty with the opposition of dark and light is really good. As I have explained, it has not got only one meaning, and it could be interpreted from different points of view and it depends on each person. For me, dark represents the internal beauty, as well as the occult parts of beauty; and light represents the external beauty, the obvious things, the bright of our faces, our eyes, our smiles, etc. And both external and internal beauties in proportion, when dark and light are in the right measure, we can say that perfection appears. She Walks In Beauty by George Gordon Byron - Famous poems, famous poets. - All Poetry She walks in Beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellowed to that tender light Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o'er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet express, How pure, how dear their dwelling-place. And on that cheek, and o'er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent! In June, 1814, Lord Byron attended a party at Lady Sitwell's. While at the party, Lord Byron was inspired by the sight of his cousin, the beautiful Mrs. Wilmot, who was wearing a black spangled mourning dress. Lord Byron was struck by his cousin’s dark hair and fair face, the mingling of various lights and shades. This became the essence of his poem about her. According to his friend, James W. Webster, "I did take him to Lady Sitwell’s party in Seymour Road. He there for the first time saw his cousin, the beautiful Mrs. Wilmot.

When we returned to his rooms in Albany, he said little, but desired Fletcher to give him a tumbler of brandy, which he drank at once to Mrs. Wilmot's health, then retired to rest, and was, I heard afterwards, in a sad state all night. The next day he wrote those charming lines upon her--She walks in Beauty like the Night…" The poem was published in 1815. © by owner. provided at no charge for educational purposes More by George Gordon Byron Lord Byron "She Walks in Beauty" Poem animation - YouTube Lord Byron "She Walks in Beauty" Poem animation Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on May 16, 2011 Heres a virtual movie of Lord Byron his best loved poem "She Walks in Beauty" "She Walks in Beauty" is a poem written in 1814 by Lord Byron.

One of Lord Byron's most famous, it is a narrative poem that describes a woman of much beauty and elegance. The poem appears to be told from the view point of third person omniscient. There are no hints as to the identity of the narrator, but it is believed that the narrator may be Byron himself. The poem is said to have been inspired by the vision of Byron's cousin by marriage in a mourning gown. It was the first of several poems to be set to Jewish tunes from the synagogue by Isaac Nathan, which were published as Hebrew Melodies in 1815. The poem is read definitively by the very talented youtuber thorkil heres the link where you can see more excellent recitals of great poems #... George Gordon Noel Byron, also known as Lord Byron, who was one of the most influential writers of his time.

Byron was born on January 22, 1788, to Captain "Mad Jack" Byron and Catherine Gordon.[1] After losing his father at a young age and inheriting the family title and estate, he went on to Harrow school, followed by an attendance to Cambridge.[1] After leaving Cambridge, Byron went on to have many travels and to develop a career that was very successful.[1] Byron died of malaria in April 1824. "She Walks in Beauty" is one of Byron's most famous works. It was published in 1815 as a part of his volume Hebrew Melodies, which was set to music.[2] The poem was inspired by actual events in Byron's life. Once, while at a ball, Byron happened upon a beautiful woman as she walked by. That woman was Byron's cousin by marriage, Mrs.

John Wilmot, and the next morning the poem was written.[3] She was in mourning, wearing a black dress set with spangles, which would explain the opening lines; " She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies " However, Nathan, in his reminiscences of Byron, indicates that the subject of the poem may have been Byron's half-sister, Augusta.[4] "She Walks in Beauty" is considered to have been Byron's tribute to the beauty of art.[5] The poem begins with the image of a woman who "walks in beauty like the night" (poem), which would lead the reader to ask how she could be found.[6] That question is answered in the next line when the speaker says that the night is cloudless and that the stars illuminate the sky, bringing into focus the imagery of light and darkness.[6] When the first line of a poem is presented with no punctuation, but is followed by a line that will clarify the previous statement, it is referred to as enjambment, and this technique is used in the first four lines of the poem.[6] In the next few lines Byron draws attention to the word meet; it emphasizes the contrasts

 in the woman being described; the imagery presented in the first two lines reappears in these lines, and the contrast of light and dark makes another appearance.[6] The light and dark appear in her face and in her eyes.

Her face contains light alabaster skin, yet has dark hair, and her eyes are dark in the iris in contrast with the white of her eye. This repeat of the contrast between light and dark reinforces the imagery introduced in the beginning of the poem.[6] The poem goes on to say that if she were to have even one bit more light or less dark she would not be ruined but she would be only "half impair'd".[6] As the poem begins to end Byron speaks of the woman's inner thoughts and how they are all good, which serves to convey the woman as pure , making her all the more beautiful.[6] The reference to her angelic looks gives a window into her morality as a person, and enhances her beauty all the more.

According to Uma Kukathas there is a contrast of light and dark in the poem can easily be a representation of what art is in its entirety; there are so many varying, contrasting parts of art and yet it all comes together to create something that is beautiful.[5] The contrast of light and dark is used to convey the soft beauty of the woman; the beauty is soft and pronounced but not overdone.[5] The woman's beauty is soft like candlelight, it is not too over powering and yet her beauty is still obvious to all who look at her.[5] The dark part of the contrast serves as a reality check to make the woman seem more worldly and real, it creates flaws and yet if she were to have even one bit more light or darkness she would only be "half-impaired".[5] Byron speaks of her "nameless grace", in which one would think he were speaking of her grace as she walks but, he is really speaking of the grace she possesses from the darker features of her face, which serve to enhance her beauty in the speakers eyes. Kind Regards All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2011 Category

Question: Who wrote the poem, which begins, "She walks in beauty like the night. Of cloudless climes, and starry skies"?
Answer: LORD BYRON